Federal Republic of Nepal - The Land
Geography Nepal is situated in Southern Asia, between China and India. It measures approximately 800km’s from East to West, and 200km’s from North to South. It is approximately1⅔ Tasmania’s size) Nepal is landlocked, which means it has no borders on the sea, they rely on India for their access to the ocean (Bay of Bengal) for imports and trades.
For a small country, Nepal has a variety of different land types. These consist of three types of regions: Terai, Hill and Mountain Regions. Terai region: land is dry and flat mostly cleared agricultural land in South of country. Hill Region: consists of thousands of steep, southern slopes/hills in the centre of the country. Mountain Regions: Rugged Himalayan Mountains in Northernmost part of country, contains Worlds largest mountain, Mount Everest.
Green- Terai region, Brown- Hill region, Grey- Himalayan
Green- Terai region
Brown- Hill region
Grey- Mountain region
River Systems Nepal has 3 categories of river systems, below are the 3 biggest Rivers in the country. Koshi: transboundary river between Nepal and India, one of the largest to flow from the Ganges. Prone to flooding during the monsoon and has extreme effects, accounting for one fifth of global flooding deaths in the world from effects of flooding in India. Gandaki/Narayani: rises along the border with Tibet, in the Himalaya region. The river is older than the Himalayas themselves. The river basin is known for its amount of hazardous glaciers and lakes. Mahakali: lies entirely in the Far Western Region of Nepal. It is said that it was at a place along this river, that the Great Sage Vyasa (a central and revered figure in the majority of Hindu traditions) meditated and spent his life, thus, giving the valley its name, the Vyasa valley.
Climate Nepal has differing climates for its regions, even though it’s a small country. This is due to such differencing altitudes of mountain to flat land in such a small land area. It varies from cool summers and severe winters in north to subtropical summers and mild winters in south. It has two seasons, a wet during June to September and a dry from October to June. There are 3 types of monsoons, Summer monsoon, postmonsoon and then winter monsoon, each playing a critical role in climate and people livelihoods.
Forests 25.4% of Nepal's land area is covered in Forests. Deforestation was typicalfor years up to 1988, in most of the country and was linked to increased demands for grazing land, farmland, and fodder as the animal and human populations grew. Furthermore most of the population's energy needs were met by firewood. In 1989 A twenty-one-year forestry master plan was devised to stem deforestation. It aims at maintaining the forest land at 37 percent at all times. Despite this, it is expected that at the rate of deforestation at present, all of Nepal’s forest land will be abolished by 2015.
Natural Disasters / Environmental issues Natural Disasters: Nepal’s major natural disasters consist of Floods, Drought, Earthquakes, Landslides and epidemics such as Malaria infection.
-The largest measured on record was Drought in 1980, killing 3, 500, 000 people.
Earthquakes are a massive occurrence and disaster in Nepal, as the country is between the two tectonic plates, Indo-Australian and Eurasian Plate, as these collisions still occur frequently, it makes Nepal one of the most seismically active spots on the Earth. --Up until the late 1950’s the Terai region was forbidden to live in because of the malaria, and thick tropical forest infested with wildlife. --Because of its Mountainous landform combined with the summer monsoon, flash floods and landslides are common and deadly. -The success of farming crops depends on the timing of the monsoon, if it arrives to early or late, the crops will be completely damaged, therefore resulting in the shortage of food, therefore posing massive risk of Famine, especially to those that live in remote areas that are extremely hard to access quickly.
Environmental Issues:
Nepal faces several problems when it comes to the safety and health of their environment. --Industrial sites and buildings discharge their contaminated water into the rivers which results in massive amounts of water pollution. Approximately two thirds of the nation do not have pure drinking water, therefore drinking contaminated water has massive health hazards. --the burning of wood for fuel, and the gas emissions from vehicles and industrial sites both contribute to the pollution of the air, which result in respiratory problems for people living in Nepal.
The largest problem that the Nepalese face is that of the results of massive deforestation. Because of the removal of massive forests, touse as firewood for fuel, the damage caused by floods is even more extensive.
The country has poor sewerage management. Untreated sewerage also poses as a major pollution factor.
In 2001, 28 of Nepal’s greatest assets of natural wildlife became endangered, such as snow leopard, tiger, Asian elephant, great Indian rhinoceros.
BackForwardReferencesThis unit was developed by Nicole Lewis, Amanda McGregor and Jason Horton
Geography
Nepal is situated in Southern Asia, between China and India. It measures approximately 800km’s from East to West, and 200km’s from North to South. It is approximately1⅔ Tasmania’s size) Nepal is landlocked, which means it has no borders on the sea, they rely on India for their access to the ocean (Bay of Bengal) for imports and trades.
For a small country, Nepal has a variety of different land types. These consist of three types of regions: Terai, Hill and Mountain Regions.
Terai region: land is dry and flat mostly cleared agricultural land in South of country.
Hill Region: consists of thousands of steep, southern slopes/hills in the centre of the country.
Mountain Regions: Rugged Himalayan Mountains in Northernmost part of country, contains Worlds largest mountain, Mount Everest.
Green- Terai region
Brown- Hill region
Grey- Mountain region
River Systems
Nepal has 3 categories of river systems, below are the 3 biggest Rivers in the country.
Koshi: transboundary river between Nepal and India, one of the largest to flow from the Ganges. Prone to flooding during the monsoon and has extreme effects, accounting for one fifth of global flooding deaths in the world from effects of flooding in India.
Gandaki/Narayani: rises along the border with Tibet, in the Himalaya region. The river is older than the Himalayas themselves. The river basin is known for its amount of hazardous glaciers and lakes.
Mahakali: lies entirely in the Far Western Region of Nepal. It is said that it was at a place along this river, that the Great Sage Vyasa (a central and revered figure in the majority of Hindu traditions) meditated and spent his life, thus, giving the valley its name, the Vyasa valley.
Climate
Nepal has differing climates for its regions, even though it’s a small country. This is due to such differencing altitudes of mountain to flat land in such a small land area. It varies from cool summers and severe winters in north to subtropical summers and mild winters in south. It has two seasons, a wet during June to September and a dry from October to June. There are 3 types of monsoons, Summer monsoon, postmonsoon and then winter monsoon, each playing a critical role in climate and people livelihoods.
Forests
25.4% of Nepal's land area is covered in Forests. Deforestation was typical for years up to 1988, in most of the country and was linked to increased demands for grazing land, farmland, and fodder as the animal and human populations grew. Furthermore most of the population's energy needs were met by firewood. In 1989 A twenty-one-year forestry master plan was devised to stem deforestation. It aims at maintaining the forest land at 37 percent at all times. Despite this, it is expected that at the rate of deforestation at present, all of Nepal’s forest land will be abolished by 2015.
Natural Disasters / Environmental issues
Natural Disasters:
Nepal’s major natural disasters consist of Floods, Drought, Earthquakes, Landslides and epidemics such as Malaria infection.
-The largest measured on record was Drought in 1980, killing 3, 500, 000 people.
Earthquakes are a massive occurrence and disaster in Nepal, as the country is between the two tectonic plates, Indo-Australian and Eurasian Plate, as these collisions still occur frequently, it makes Nepal one of the most seismically active spots on the Earth.
- -Up until the late 1950’s the Terai region was forbidden to live in because of the malaria, and thick tropical forest infested with wildlife.
- -Because of its Mountainous landform combined with the summer monsoon, flash floods and landslides are common and deadly.
- The success of farming crops depends on the timing of the monsoon, if it arrives to early or late, the crops will be completely damaged, therefore resulting in the shortage of food, therefore posing massive risk of Famine, especially to those that live in remote areas that are extremely hard to access quickly.
Environmental Issues:
Nepal faces several problems when it comes to the safety and health of their environment.
- -Industrial sites and buildings discharge their contaminated water into the rivers which results in massive amounts of water pollution. Approximately two thirds of the nation do not have pure drinking water, therefore drinking contaminated water has massive health hazards.
- -the burning of wood for fuel, and the gas emissions from vehicles and industrial sites both contribute to the pollution of the air, which result in respiratory problems for people living in Nepal.
The largest problem that the Nepalese face is that of the results of massive deforestation. Because of the removal of massive forests, touse as firewood for fuel, the damage caused by floods is even more extensive.
The country has poor sewerage management. Untreated sewerage also poses as a major pollution factor.
In 2001, 28 of Nepal’s greatest assets of natural wildlife became endangered, such as snow leopard, tiger, Asian elephant, great Indian rhinoceros.
Back Forward References This unit was developed by Nicole Lewis, Amanda McGregor and Jason Horton